FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Some people are not so blinded by their fandom that they lose sight of reality, Pride.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

The coaches know how to win (Mount, Hiram, ONU, Thomas More), now it is up to the players to learn from them and bring Emory back to the top of the ODAC.

Did he just say that someone from Hiram knows how to win?  Now that is funny. LOL

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

And I don't care what anyone says, Emory almost beat the mighty Bridgewater last year.  Clark's Eagles can blame a lack of production on the field conditions, but the truth is Emory hung with them that day.  Watch the film.

It was Bridgewater 31, Emory & Henry 3, at the start of the 4th quarter.  You're right, a barn-burner.

Kidding aside, we got what we needed to win.  I mean shoot, we averaged seven yards a carry, completed 68% of our passes, and only turned it over once ... we just couldn't punch it in.

And why can't we "blame" the weather?  It was 50 degrees and raining.  Not very ideal conditions for scoring (for either team).

[e h dad]

EHCPride.

             The one thing that I'm not going to do is write a check with my mouth that my butt can't cash.To set the record straight I would give up my left nad to see E&H win the ODAC this year , I've been to every E&H home game and 4 away games,averaging 1000 miles per round trip in the last three season,so please don't say I have no faith in E&H. Yes it is possible for the WASPS  to win the ODAC, but right now it  looks inprobable. The players must want it as bad as the coaches.You can have all the talent in the world, but if you have not got the attitude on the field,you ain't got jack.You may win some ball games,but you ain't going to win it all.E&H has the coaching,talent, and support for its program to be successful.
         All the names you mentioned are fine young men and they need to step up and take a  leadership role. The E&H players need not be a group of 11 when they take to the field, but they need to be a team and come together as ONE HEARTBEAT.

          Remember going to a football game is like buying a Lottery ticket.Your hoping to win, but you can't always count on having the winning numbers. Let's hope E&H has all the winning numbers ths year!!!

           Peace I AM THE E&H DAD

[wrighthall220]

And I don't care what anyone says, Emory almost beat the mighty Bridgewater last year.  Clark's Eagles can blame a lack of production on the field conditions, but the truth is Emory hung with them that day.  Watch the film.

It was Bridgewater 31, Emory & Henry 3, at the start of the 4th quarter.  You're right, a barn-burner.

Kidding aside, we got what we needed to win.  I mean shoot, we averaged seven yards a carry, completed 68% of our passes, and only turned it over once ... we just couldn't punch it in.

And why can't we "blame" the weather?  It was 50 degrees and raining.  Not very ideal conditions for scoring (for either team).

Pride sounds like a current player.. at least from my experience on this board being both a player and now a fan it seems like before camp starts and RIGHT before the first game of the season this board is flooded with players until their coaches crack down! 

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

And I don't care what anyone says, Emory almost beat the mighty Bridgewater last year.  Clark's Eagles can blame a lack of production on the field conditions, but the truth is Emory hung with them that day.  Watch the film.

It was Bridgewater 31, Emory & Henry 3, at the start of the 4th quarter.  You're right, a barn-burner.

Kidding aside, we got what we needed to win.  I mean shoot, we averaged seven yards a carry, completed 68% of our passes, and only turned it over once ... we just couldn't punch it in.

And why can't we "blame" the weather?  It was 50 degrees and raining.  Not very ideal conditions for scoring (for either team).

Pride sounds like a current player.. at least from my experience on this board being both a player and now a fan it seems like before camp starts and RIGHT before the first game of the season this board is flooded with players until their coaches crack down! 

Was thinking the same thing after reading his last post.  It wasn't even the fact that he had a lot of inside information (coaches, transfers, recruits) ... it was his "Watch the film" comment which screamed player.

I suppose if "EHCPride" stops posting around mid-August, we'll know.  If you aren't a player, EHCPride, then welcome to the board!!  Keep us informed on Wasp happenings!

[wrighthall220]

Yeah only a player would quote the game film as his/her evidence.   The thing about game film (and Kid knows ALL about game film!!  )  is that you watch it AFTER the game and it's pretty useless at that point.  So to say E&H dominated BC on film, still doesn't equate to much seeing as there isn't a half a W given out for a win on film.   Welcome to the board Pride, but be careful how much INSIDE info you give out.. Coach Clark at BC was able to pinpoint leaks down to certain players when they posted info..   We all don't want any upset coaches before the season begins! 

For Pride, since he/she is new... here is a half a W for "dominating" on film...

V   

[Forma80]

'06 season is in our sights and Forma 80 is back in business. The General's are coming off the best offseason in memory, and have a terrific recruiting class coming to Lexington. 3 All-Americans on offense and 7 starters back on D.

The General's have 33 letter winners coming back....apparently Emory and Henry has 65?...after losing 50? e h dad, what does it take to letter at E & H, suit up for one practice? In Lexington you have to play in more than 50% of the quarters.

Secondly, why on earth are there that many players in the first place? I mean it looks cool and all to have all those uniforms on the sideline, but that's a bit much.

[religion_major]

'06 season is in our sights and Forma 80 is back in business. The General's are coming off the best offseason in memory, and have a terrific recruiting class coming to Lexington. 3 All-Americans on offense and 7 starters back on D.

The General's have 33 letter winners coming back....apparently Emory and Henry has 65?...after losing 50? e h dad, what does it take to letter at E & H, suit up for one practice? In Lexington you have to play in more than 50% of the quarters.

Secondly, why on earth are there that many players in the first place? I mean it looks cool and all to have all those uniforms on the sideline, but that's a bit much.

As far as letter winners are concerned, I wouldn't cite letter winners coming back as much of a statistic because there is no universal standard for winning a letter.  For instance, on the Baseball team my freshman year at Bridgewater there were several "letter winners" who did not appear in an varsity intercollegiate game.  It would seem to me that the award of a letter is more of an internal matter for the program in question and not really much of a standard for returning talent.  Now if we want to talk about returning starters or returning players who were in their team's playing rotation that is a different matter...

[wrighthall220]

To add to Religon's post...

At BC as of the 2002 season all that was required to letter was to be a part of the team from day 1 until the last day of the season.

As far as having more than 100 players on a team:
-Having enough players to field a full varisty team plus a JV team can work to a programs advantage as younger players get work even if they don't start on Saturday. BC, Mount Union and several other programs around the country run both a Varisity and a JV program which is a great idea.  BC players last year played against eventual Division I players and against USAC teams over the course of several JV games.  Practice alone cannot buy that type of game time experience.   Seeing as how the E&H coach is from MUC.. it only makes sense that he may add a JV squad to his program.
-BC used a roating set of O-lines,  Defensive squads and skill players (sometimes 3-4 deep)  over the past few seasons which keeps the team fresh from game 1 through 12, 13, etc.   (The roating skill players also accounts for some of the lower stats for the great players BC has to some extent)

W&L has had a small squad the past few years and that's cool because it works to an extent for them.  However,  having a big team has many, many advantages other than the fact that it looks cool.

[Forma80]

Fully understand religion and wright's points about the irrelavance of being assigned a "letter" in today's environment which was my own point as well, although I certainly could have articulated it more clearly.

However, it does seem to possibly serve a psychological purpose for those 60+ kids who receive letters and never see significant playing time--keeping them invested in the program.

As to the advantages of roster depth, I wholeheartedly concur, as smaller teams always risk the impact of a key injury, and can be worn down more easily. My disillusion lies with the carrying of so many players on a Varsity. In all honesty, I do not know how BC or EH runs practice--whether it's broken down into JV and Varsity. But if all those kids are getting Varsity reps in practice, that can reduce the number of reps your #1's and 2's are getting. Such repetition is what instills discipline and focus, which could be where all those penalties come from in some of the larger programs.

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

2006 ODAC Preseason Football Poll - released today by the ODAC

1 - Bridgewater
2 - Washington & Lee
3 - Hampden-Sydney
4 - Guilford
5 - Randolph-Macon
6t - Catholic
6t - Emory & Henry

[wrighthall220]

Fully understand religion and wright's points about the irrelavance of being assigned a "letter" in today's environment which was my own point as well, although I certainly could have articulated it more clearly.

However, it does seem to possibly serve a psychological purpose for those 60+ kids who receive letters and never see significant playing time--keeping them invested in the program.

As to the advantages of roster depth, I wholeheartedly concur, as smaller teams always risk the impact of a key injury, and can be worn down more easily. My disillusion lies with the carrying of so many players on a Varsity. In all honesty, I do not know how BC or EH runs practice--whether it's broken down into JV and Varsity. But if all those kids are getting Varsity reps in practice, that can reduce the number of reps your #1's and 2's are getting. Such repetition is what instills discipline and focus, which could be where all those penalties come from in some of the larger programs.

The practices were never a problem while I was at BC.. after the 2001 Stagg Bowl season the program grew to what seemed like a ungodly size but when it came down to it, the only problems came in finding locker room space and even then that was solved over the summer months.   The way BC runs summer practices now seems to be the best package.. the 3's and 4's have practice and then the 1st and 2nds practice on the opposite schedule.   During the fall there isn't as much drill type reps, it is more going over new plays and running plays.  The bigger team aspect is great because the 1st and 2nd teams run plays against the 3rd/4th D's and  vice versa for the D... ending practice with 1's on 1's and 2's on 2's.   Again BC has run with at least 2 deep in their positions during the regular season so by the time you get to the 3rd string they are just as ready as a 2nd string player would be.   It works.. it's  hard to grasp without seeing but it really isn't a big deal.

[Jeremybozz]

I thought Guilford would be ranked at least one spot higher in the ODAC but HSC is also worthy of the #3 spot.

[hasanova]

I thought Guilford would be ranked at least one spot higher in the ODAC but HSC is also worthy of the #3 spot.

I thought they would be too, but they do have a new Defensive Coordinator this year and that side of the ball has room for improvement.  I can see how the voting came out this way, but I still think the Quakers will have a decent season.